Effects of Variations in Hormonal Treatments Upon In vitro Regeneration Potential in Embryo Explants of Arenga pinnata

One of the challenges related to propagation of Arenga pinnata is its lengthy period of seed dormancy. In this study, in vitro regeneration was carried out to determine the effect of hormonal treatment on the embryo explant of Arenga pinnata. Embryos were surface sterilized and cultured into different media supplemented with various hormones concentrations and combinations. Each treatment contained of Kinetin (KN) hormone (1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 mg/l) and in combination with indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 mg/l. The height of plumule and length of radical was observed and recorded. Treatment 8 (3 mg/ml KN + 0.1 mg/ml IAA) showed 59.09% in plumule height increment while treatment 4 (1 mg/ml KN + 0.3 mg/ml IAA) showed the highest radical increments with 93.62%. The knowledge gained in this study consequently helps us to better understand the role of KN and IAA in the in vitro regeneration protocol. Since in vitro method able to produce higher number of in vitro seedlings at one time, it is important to establish the in vitro regeneration protocol for this plant.